


Conclusions Drawn

by spacepirate



Category: The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Angst, Gen, brian be like I Will Comfort You By Philosophizing, drumbot-centric, just a heads up, might be accidentally heavy, nobody actually dies but it's discussed, the toy soldier is here for the end, there's a nice little surprise ending !, they talk about death a lot, this is probably hella ooc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:34:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23370088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacepirate/pseuds/spacepirate
Summary: I really wanted to call this "The (Death) of Brian" but it wasn't appropriate.--Jonny doesn't understand the Drumbot's philosophies.  He seeks an explanation of Brian's outlook on life.
Relationships: Drumbot Brian & Jonny d'Ville
Comments: 2
Kudos: 43





	Conclusions Drawn

**Author's Note:**

> i'm on twitter @okiedokiecrisco but like, it's nothing coherent and i scream a lot. i'm always open for requests though, which is why i link it here.

“Do you even believe the things you say?” Jonny asked the Drumbot as he was sitting at the helm one evening. He’d already had a bit to drink, and figured now was as good a time as any for the existential questions.

Brian didn’t look away from the front windshield. “That is a vague question.”

Jonny sprawled out in the co-pilot’s chair. “Well, when you go off on those tangents about life and morality, y’know. Do you mean any of that?”

“Well now, I believe that counts as a ‘loaded question’,” Brian said. He drummed his fingers on the control center, thinking on the question at hand. “If I explain my philosophy to you, will you answer a question for me?”

“Why the fuck not,” Jonny sighed. “Tell it to me, then.”

\--

“I have never actually died. Obviously I’ve come very close to death, considering my… current state, yes, but I never truly died. I am sure you’ve experienced the sort of cognitive dissonance that results after a death or coming close to it. Well, you might not anymore, it is sort of routine for you at this point. But I’m sure the others could explain. When you are close to death, you are forced to evaluate the things you have done and the impact you leave behind.

“It’s a sobering experience- again probably not in your case, I seem to remember you being drunk during most of your more recent deaths- but regardless, you have to think about if you’ve been a good influence on the world. If you’re going to be worth remembering.

“I don’t want to discuss heavy topics right now, Jonny, but you asked so I’ll answer any more questions you may have.”

Jonny was, for once in his life, silent. He frowned. “All of your bullshit about morals and stuff comes from when the Doc picked you up? That’s it? You didn’t, uh,” Jonny hiccuped, “kill your dad or anything?”

“How oddly specific,” Brian said, sparing a glance for him. “But no, I didn’t. I never wanted to hurt anyone. I mostly wanted to fix things… fix people. What did you want to do, Jonny?”

“Is that your question for me?”

“Yes, it is. I've wondered about this for a long while now. I haven’t heard much about your life before the Doctor, and I can’t imagine you were always like this,” Brian said.

Jonny grabbed his flask. “Fuckin’ rude.”

There was a natural lull as Brian started making adjustments to the course, pressing buttons on the controls. He consulted the electronic maps the Aurora provided, referencing their current course with their destination. Jonny watched while fiddling with the cap of his flask, thinking.

“Am I too late?” he asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

“Again, your question is vague,” Brian said.

“To change things before I die again. You’ve just got me thinking now-”

“Don’t hurt yourself.”

Jonny rolled his eyes. “Fuck you. You know how little I care about being good. I just want to be memorable. If someone here’s the name Jonny d’Ville, I want them to go ‘Ah, that fucker’.”

“If that’s your goal,” Brian said, finally looking away from the control panel to look at the first mate, “I would say you are quite well on your way to being memorable before your next death. That whole escapade on Patria put you on the radar for plenty of systems. I am relatively sure that you aren’t going to be forgotten.”

That seemed to deflate Jonny more than anything. “Oh. So all this shit about changing and that is useless to me, then.”

“Not necessarily. You could always be a better person from a morality standpoint. Steal less, kill fewer people.”

“That is _supremely_ boring of you to say, Brian,” Jonny said. He got to his feet shakily. “Well, thanks for the talk, it was a way to get rid of some time and whiskey.”

As he turned to walk away, he found himself face-to-face with the Toy Soldier. He shouted in surprise and shoved it away. “Fucking- you can’t do that! You can’t sneak up on people!”

“But I was listening!” the Toy Soldier argued. “I just want to help you with something.”

“Yeah, and what’s that?” Jonny asked. He tried to push past it but it kept getting in front of him. The damn thing was surprisingly strong.

“Well, you’ve been talking to Drumbot Brian but he’s been on the wrong setting! Here, let me fix it!” the Toy Soldier said cheerfully. Before Brian could react, it pulled down the collar of his shirt and flicked the switch on the morality core, putting him to Ends Justify Means. Brian blinked a couple times in shock.

“Jonny? Disregard everything I’ve said in our previous conversation,” Brian said. “Obviously, whatever you do, as long as it will achieve some higher goal, it’s fine. I don’t know why I said that earlier about killing less people or whatever. It’s all relative. Do whatever you want, pretty much.”

Jonny pat the Toy Soldier on the back. “Huh. I like Cool Brian’s advice much more. Thanks.”

**Author's Note:**

> this felt a loooot longer than 850 words while writing it haha. maybe if i gave it a proper ending it would've been longer and better. ty for reading <3


End file.
